Places I like to Visit

Monday, June 29, 2009

I'm moving, merging......Just so you guys know :) I've decided to minimize! This BassAckwards mom's life got a little more NuckinFuts crazy then usual. So, to cut down on my time spent blogging... I've decided that it's just as easy to put it all in one spot.

I'll be redirecting all of this blog's content and merging it with my original blog. I'll keep posting, I'll keep frugalizing my life... because, I enjoy it - and I enjoy sharing what I find with those of you who read here. Alot of my posts are full of info I stumble upon by friends, in stores, etc., and/or other blogs that I read. I really enjoy passing it forward! I'm all about a great deal! I realize that most all of what I find you could easily find for yourself with a little digging and googling... but the fun in it for me is simply passing it on!

I LOVE reviewing new products too!! I am posting my Jumpstartreview this weekend.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

on how to be better at allowing learning to happen. {I've been learning}

...and because I've opened my mind.

We'll see where this takes us... right now all I know is that it's sure to be a fun filled summer full of little opportunities to learn a little more everyday right here in the community and at home. Even on vacation, both boys were absorbing, and learning...

"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."

I went and picked up our pool card for our n'hood pools. This pool is the one with the splash pad and both boys love it!! I like it because this is the 'family pool' and it's 4 feet deep. So it's easy for both kids to find something they enjoy doing at this clubhouse. Our other clubhouse has an Olympic pool and a baby pool.... but we like the splash pad so much - we'll probably camp out here almost every day for at least an hour or so, as long as weather permits!!

.... but we couldn't resist! We took this pic on our last stop before heading home from the beach. The better camera was tucked away in the car, so I grabbed the one I keep in my purse and we just couldn't go by one of these without stopping. Not to mention - Ben & Jerrys happens to be my FAVORITE icecream of all time. Especially Cherry Garcia, mmmm yum...

The summer is here, and I've been a slacker all around lately with posting AND with keeping up with friends on the web. Just trying to enjoy the summer, the kids, and life in general...

.....oh, and I've also been busy killing spiders. eek. Maybe I'll post a picture of one of the black widows I killed... or would that be too creepy?? I'm betting my dad will hope I don't do that!!!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Visit The UnMom for lots of random thoughts.... I have poo for brains this week already, we just got home from vacation....

It IS possible to.... need to buy a new laptop cord ($109.95) because yours suddenly quits working, have your airbag light on your almost paid for car (4 payments) come on for the first time EVER, and to spill almost 1/2 a cup of apple juice on your blackberry!!! ALL in the same day!!!! But, it was no biggie - replaced the cord, ignored the light (for the last 15 years I've work in some part of the auto industry, so not worried about it, no emergency), and took the blackberry straight up to my blow dryer.... and it seems to work fine!! This was ALL right before we were leaving for the beach on Thursday. Irony.

We had wonderful weather at the beach this week and couldn't have asked for a better vacation!!

I need to buy a can of air, but I'm putting it off because I just think it's dumb. Buying air. Overall, I do need it to clean my laptop keyboard on both of the laptops... but still, doesn't it just seem weird to buy what should come naturally?? Kindof like having to pay for bottled water, I'm still getting over that one. At the mall recently, I asked for a bottled water, and I was given two choices, a 12oz Fiji for 4.95 or a 20oz g-brand for 1.95....seriously, why even give me the option? 1.95 please.

Today I took the boys to Friendy's, and the waitress was so surprised that my 3yo did NOT want his free icecream after his meal.... ???? So I had the scoop of icecream (strawberry, yum) and he ate the little candy pieces (M&M's) that went on top. He doesn't like any icecream except for Edy's Dibs. I did NOT enjoy the icecream and ONLY ate it out of obligation... because moms do that sort of stuff..... *joking*

My cat is loud.

I just got home from vacation, and I'm already trying to plan our next getaway!! I'm loving that we planned mini-vacations for this summer and a trip to TX this fall!!

I have nothing witty or even remotely interesting today.... I'm living on vacation brain, and a sugar high.

....oh, I do have something to add, the 3yo managed to get boo-boo's on both hands this week, and here's the funny picture we took (bad quality, random shot)..... for anyone unaware that he's showing us his boo boo's, it looks like we're terrible parents, eh?

Monday, June 15, 2009

This morning we woke up early, with the plan to head out to the oceanfront one last time w/ the kids and let them do whatever they wanted!! They had fun at the beachfront, and again at the pools. The night prior there was a HUGE party out at the pools ocean front and evidentally there was alot of disrespectful people who really trashed the place. The maintenance crew told us to hang out while they finished cleaning, we were out there around 845am, and the poor maintenance guys were having to clean the pools, bleach the poolsides, etc., because I suppose graduation weekend was REALLY about to begin!!

Thank GOODNESS it is our last day!!! No way I could enjoy and relax while that chaos was going on every night. Both kids were immune to the noise overnight, but I was awake most of the night and decided to read a ton of blogs.... played a little online scrabble, and then went to bed.

After some playing at the pool, goofing off for a bit, we went BACK TO BROADWAY AT THE BEACH!!! It was such a big hit with the kids, and we REALLY wanted them to enjoy and remember their special time at the beach!! We had one last ride for the boys, they rode their favorites one more time and then they rode the race cars again together. The video quality STINKS but it was such a fun time for them both!! I should have stood somewhere else to get the video. Either way, the boys had a blast!!

We decided our lunch would be at Joe's Crab Shack - and WOW it was SOOOOO GOOD!!! The entertainment was great also!! They danced the 'train', had fun music playing, and even had a outdoor play area for the kiddos while we waited on our food!!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

For our 3rd day at the beach we decided to just kick back and go with whatever, whenever, and however! No specific plan, no itinerary, just - enjoying. We spent the morning out by the beach and at the oceanfront pools at the resort, the kids played and played. Little J met a friend at the toddler pool area, and they played together for a while. I enjoyed talking with her parents, and found out that they were just married -literally that day!! The husband had the little girl that little J was playing with from a previous marriage, and she was 5. The couple has a 15 month old little girl together! They were adorable and such a nice family to talk with about general 'stuff'. Big E also met some fellows in the lazy river area and they ended up hanging out and playing water games for most of the morning!!

We ordered in for lunch, super greasy NY style pizza.... and WOW it was greasy. I had to use a paper towel to sponge off the grease. We never get yuck like that, but we decided on a whim - why not try it and see how it is.... eeekk!! Big J and I only ate 1 piece each, I think big J started to eat a 2nd one and we were both like -ugh- we'll pay for that later!! Little J ate 1.5 pieces and can you believe that big E put away FOUR PIECES of that stuff?????

When little J woke from his nap, we decided to go back out to Broadway at the Beach because both boys had such a good time and kept asking to go back. We just figured, why not?!? They loved it, had a blast and we wanted them to enjoy their vacation....

We settled on Tony Roma's for dinner just before a storm came in, the food was yummy!! Big E was the only one who had their famous ribs... he said they were yum. I stayed safe with chicken and big J had some blackened salmon....all in all we've decided that his (at home) grilled salmon can't be beat. I'm not just saying that to boost his ego or self esteem, his blackened salmon really IS the best I've ever had!!

After dinner we decided we'd go back, wait on the rain to pass and maybe go for a walk out on the beach. Little J wasn't a huge fan of the ocean water this year, he liked the sand, but had a bit of anxiety with the ocean itself. Not sure why, I guess that big big ocean is alot to understand for a little fellow! We picked our battles, held him and reassured him that daddy and big E were just fine if they were in the water. He didn't have tantrums, or panic attacks, he was just uneasy. He and I played in the sand alot, collected shells and pulled a little wagon along the sand while big J and E splashed a bit in the water. We saw a beautiful sunset!! What a perfect way to end our last night at the beach!!

I haven't had any handy dandy ideas or deals to post in the past week or so... I am doing a review for Jumpstart, a pc educational tool for kids 3-10 years old, and plan to post about that in the next week or so. They're also allowing me to host a giveaway when I post my review, a random comment on the post will be chosen and that person will receive a 3 month free membership to the program!!

Right now, we're away on a long weekend getaway at the beach with the kids....

Friday, June 12, 2009

I posted my earlier post during little J's nap, I laid beside him while he napped for 2 hours... while I was here, big J and E went for a walk and bought a boogy board. After nap we decided to hit the Ripley's Aquarium and then grab dinner while we were out.

Little J wasn't too excited about all of the creepy sounds they had playing in the dark creepy tunnels in the aquarium, so it took a little while for him to adjust. We ended up going out to the open play area a few times while big J and E were checking out the sharks. After a little time to feel safe, he was good to go... After the aquarium we decided to go get dinner, at Tripps and it was YUM. Even though it's a chain and there's some in NC, we've never been. We had a shrimp appetizer that was awesome. An Asian style shrimp over rice with wasabi seeds, and oh my yummy.... I loved it! The boys also enjoyed their meals!! Little J flirted with the waitress every time she stopped by.

Once we finished up with dinner, we still had a walk to the car so we took some pictures along the way. Big E loves surfboards, so when I saw this one it looked like it matched his shirt... fun picture. The board was gigantic!

Below is the ride that big E chose, most of them were really for little kids, but this one was decent and he had fun! He had some random stranger ride along with him.... While he was riding the airplane ride, little J and big J were on the carousel.

And of COURSE you can't forget the train... if there's a train to ride - we WILL ride it!! Little J had a BLAST !! I rode along only because I had too, but it was fun watching the boys sit together for this one. We headed back to our place, and changed into our suits for one more splash in the pool(s) and the lazy river! Then back up for a snack and off to bed... and that is where I am right now, beside a sleeping toddler who's worn out from a fun filled day!!

Turns out - I had my camera on crappy settings, so this is the best I have and I even made them into hokey collages and postcards because - well, they're not the best I "could" have done.... :-( *tear* I'll play with my camera settings while we're here, and I may even run to get a different filter...

Little J had a little bit of a fear of the water this trip...

So after about 45 min at the beach this morning, we ended up at the lazy river and the various pools and sand play areas at the resort ocean front.... both boys are having A BLAST!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

...check in around 4pm, so we left the house around noon and headed on our way! The weather proved to be gorgeous for our trip!! Not to hot, no storms, and traffic was really light too. All the way there, little J said "holy crap" and "b&%$#" .... makes me sound like a terrible parent, but his version of "beach" really sounds like "b&%$#".... the holy crap came in when I had to hit the brakes pretty hard. I ignored it (seems to be the only real way to make it go away in the long run) but my 10yo busted out laughing, and then started a 'holy crap' song by little J. WOW..... I'm TERRIBLE for having said it, and toddlers remember E V E R Y T H I N G that you don't want them too!!! I have to say that for being two really excited boys, and to be 7 years apart (10 and 3) they were MARVELOUS (no yelling at each other like I remember doing as a kid w my brothers) in the car and we didn't have to stop but once for gas and a stretch.

4pm on the nose, and we arrived, we're staying at Myrtle Beach for the first time in 5 years. I had vowed I'd NEVER return, but the hubs wanted to come for novelty's sake with the kids and they DO have alot of putt putt and Ripley's attractions that both boys will enjoy. We're staying as South Myrtle as possible, because it' really is like a teenage brothel up here...which is why I prefer Folly Beach or Charleston in general. But we're excited none the less!! Checked in at the place, and headed up to our room. It's a neat setup, you drive inside the building center where the parking deck is built in on each floor and you can park on your floor and basically you're right there at your room. We have a 2br suite and it's really nice... although I do miss my bed from home. Nothing is as cozy to me ever!!

After we unpacked we decided to find food, and we ended up at Murrlles Inlet at the Divine Fish House, it was a little pricey for my preference but the she-crab soup was DELICIOUS!!! Big E had the kids shrimp and it was an adult size portion, little J had the PB&J w/ fries and berries, and I had shrimp with steamed veggies... their rice seems rather odd - it had cinnamon in it??? Anyway, big J had the salmon and we both agreed - his is better (that he grills at home).... I was reminded of my former eastern NC life when we were driving back toward the place we're staying. I stopped at the grocery store to get some milk and OJ and when I walked in the sky was normal, when I walked out it was the most ugly storm I've seen in a very long time!!! Papers were flying everywhere in the grocery parking lot, and the lightening was insane!! I remember growing up and those types of storms sneaking up out of nowhere often!! We got back to the room after driving through flash flood type rain, and we decided to stay in.... It was 845pm by that time anyway, which is already past little J's usual bedtime and he was going on no nap as well. So it worked out I suppose.

Little J is sleeping with us on this trip, it's just easier and everyone stays happy that way. Big E has a huge room all to himself with 2 queen beds and a TV, he's so excited. Little J and I laid down at 930, and he was sound asleep by 933. HA. Here's a picture I snapped of him with my cellphone very shortly after he fell asleep....

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Just rummaging through the photos from when we went to the lazy 5 ranch on Mothers Day and I ran across this one....

I'm never in pictures, because I'm usually the person taking them, so when the hubs decided to take some pics of me and the boys it didn't turn as well as planned.... I should post the entire set of photos that he took during the time at this fence, but this one is just funny to me.... one kid is really worried about the gigantic set of horns coming up after us, the other kid is in some other world, and me - I look like I have a cow horn in my head and of course, I'm in NO way prepared for a photo!!! These are the best kinds of memories for me, absolutely random moments with the kids.

Monday, June 8, 2009

We are headed out this morning to watch the big guy graduate from 5th grade. I cant believe it.... man he's growing up fast!

Thursday - we're off to the beach... and that couldn't be soon enough. I need to be at the beach. It soothes my soul, I heart the ocean.

Our 10yo wondered about being a Nascar driver as a career, in lieu of going to 4-8+ years of college, and when I told him that sometime they pee (and other stuff) in their suits because of extremely long races w/o bathroom breaks, he sortof gave up the dream.

Along those same lines, I recently added a word to my vocabulary. Speeze. Sneeze + Pee. Definition is only understood by those moms who've held their bladder so long that when they sneeze the get a subtle reminder that they should realy go pee.......

I made a summer activity chart so that we can have SOMETHING to look forward too, even if it's a neighborhood adventure. Most all of our outings, excursions will be free and we've joined two book programs for the kids and the oldest can't wait to get things going! There are ALOT of resources locally, and once I started looking for stuff to do - we came up with tons!! I work from home, so our goal is to have one 'together' activity per day 3-4 days a week, then one just 'chill' day each week. We're fortunate to have 2 really fun pools in our neighborhood that we have access too because we're members of a scandel HOA. One even has a splash pad!

Why does Wendy's keep messing around with the Frosty?? First Vanilla, and now Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty and the Cino-Frosty. You don't mess with the Frosty, it's a classic item..... I haven't had one in forever, and even the Jr. Frosty is 4 weight watchers points, but still - don't mess with a good thing!!

My 3yo is talking in his sleep. He's saying "just one more time". Usually he says that to get his way before going to bed, about reading a book, or playing a song, etc., so it's funny to me that he's saying it in his sleep...

That's all I have for RTT. I also posted some randomness about our lives recently on my other blog HERE.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

I've been bad at blogging lately, been under the weather a bit and in general -just not into it. So I thought I'd update my family/friends/blogland in 5 min or less on what's been going on in our little part of the universe.

We're headed to the beach next week!! YAY!! We are excited about a 4 day getaway!!

Big E is almost done with 5th grade!! Go big E!!! He passed his EOG's and did an excellent job on the scoring!

Little J still needs to work on saying holy crap... ALL of that is MY fault. I'm so bad...

Today we saw a sign for a "beef jerky outlet" near a large mall in our area.. what's that about?? Is there really a place where you shop for beef jerky in mass supply like that??

I officially cooked ZERO meals this weekend, and I'm not feeling any guilt. I've been sick, and darn it - I'm just glad to have antibiotics and hearing back in one ear. I did, however, make one dandy oreo pie with sugar free oreos and mini pie crusts... the pie is as guilt free as a pie can possibly get with chocolate, and of course using moderation in portions is a must with goodies like this.... HERE is the recipe.

Little J is in love with the apples that were delivered by our local organic veg/fruit delivery service.... he's on his SECOND one tonight right now!!

Did I mention we're going to the beach? The beach feels like home to me, because I grew up visiting the beach almost every other weekend EVERY summer until 1987 when we moved closer to the foothills in our state. We lived close enough that my mom would take us as often as possible. You'd never know that now, because I'm so white that I could blind you with the whiteness...either way - it's peaceful and feels like home in my soul to be beside the crashing waves and the warm sand. Hopefully we'll go back in August for my birthday as usual.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I've blogged about this 2 x's now, and this deal has returned... this time saving a whopping 100.00 on this Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 30-Minutes (White). BRAND NEW for $49.99!! That's a super huge savings!! The vender selling this product at this reduced price shows only 14 available at the time of my post...this sale won't last long!!

I'm going to take a moment and do what my husband may say I do best at times, and rant. So instead of my typical fluff posting of recent months, I'm going to make this one all about complaining and ranting.... if that bugs you - then I guess, well, what are you doing still reading???

We opted out of TWC for our cable provider after 12 long years of service with them, so last Saturday we took the cable box back and made sure that our internet service would stay the same, because it's the only really decent internet provider in the area. SO, I get my receipt showing canceled cable service and remaining internet service and we're on our way. We already had Direct TV installed several weeks ago and were having problems with a few channels so we had a service appt. set for Thursday of last week to get that corrected, so fast forward to Thursday...

Thursday morning after we got home from taking big E to school, I decided to stick little J in the bath because he was really stuffy and a bath always seems to help open his airways up a bit when he's stuffy. While he was playing in the bath DTV called me to ask if they could come to the house early because of schedule changes on their end and I asked them to give me 15 min to get the kid out of the bath, but otherwise, sure. So I get little J out of the bath and get downstairs to see a Time Warner Cable van in my driveway (yes, NOT Direct TV)?? I was puzzled, so I stepped outside and asked the total arsehole gentleman what he was there for, and he said to me in a condescending voice "ma'am, you DID change your services" and I replied, "right, but no one notified me that you'd be here today and I didn't receive a courtesy call, which has always been the case in the past 12 years with you guys so I hope you can understand why I am puzzled that you're here." (needed the jerk to know I wasn't an idiot to their practices in general) He again replied "ma'am (as if I'm 12) I'm here to downgrade your services, ok?" I'm a bit annoyed because he's pulling the waffle house "ok sweetie" tone with me that I loathe and I decided to leave it alone, I said "Ok, please verify on your work orders that our internet service is to remain the same" he said AGAIN with the "you idiot" tone "yes, you're downgrading your CABLE because you opted out of CABLE ma'am, not internet, your internet will not be interrupted because that's an entirely different line".... I said "great!! thanks, and have a great day!!" and walked in the house....

5 minutes later, when he was leaving my driveway - my internet was DOWN. So I called TWC, got the run around for several minutes then finally they called him over dispatch after I told them that this seemed almost intentional and I hear him say "oh, I thought I had disconnected the right one but I wasn't sure." RIGHT - wasn't sure my rear end. So they tell me he's headed back to our house and after his tone and attitude w/ me I asked them that he not even come to the door this time, just do what he needs to do outside and leave. I was furious!

Direct TV arrives during my phone call, and he's amused, he also tells me that HE could reconnect it for me at the outside box but he'd just let TWC do their thing.... SO, TWC arrives shortly after DTV does, and that was interesting. The TWC guy is in the yard for a while and I tell the DTV guy who's in my house that I need to go stick the kid in the bed for his nap and I'll be back in 2 minutes, I walk back down my stairs and guess who let himself in (without knocking) the TWC guy!! I asked the DTV guy if HE let him in and he said "NO MA'AM, I'd get fired for that!!"... so this guy let himself into my house!!!! Not only that, he didn't even speak to me, just stood there staring at me while he put his shoe covers on. I finally said "do you need to ck my modem or something?" he nodded yes, and I pointed him to it. He was upstairs for 15 min, then walked out of the house, then WALKED BACK IN without knocking (each time before with TWC and with DTV, anytime they come or go they knock... courtesy? Anyway, the last time he walked in, he came into the kitchen, said "its up" and then walked off.... nothing else. No apology, no have a good day - nothing.

The Direct TV guys had to pick their jaws up off of the ground and couldn't believe how the man treated me. All I can say is WOW. Daniel with Time Warner Cable, WOW. You have to know that I fully understand that people have bad days, people make mistakes, it happens - but letting yourself into someones home is not appropriate.... knock first dude.

So I want to know - TWC, what the HE%# kind of service is that after spending TONS on cable and internet for the past 12 years???? We're debating on dropping internet and going with a different provider, the only problem with that is I've had the same email address for a VERY long time, and so has my hubs. We both depend on that email address for our income to a degree, because we both do alot of work from home.... argh - I'm frustrated...... Took a photo of the two vans in my driveway because it was amusing at one point or another - took it with the crappy camera because I didn't want to be obvious and walk out to the yard and take a good one with the good camera. I haven't handled this with the company yet - but I plan to - this week, somehow.